There’s a huge range of services your business can choose from to both support society and impress your increasingly woke customers.
In recent years there’s been shift in consumer behaviour, with sales of ethical goods and services valued at over £81.3 billion. Concern about the environment and society is growing, and more than ever we are using our spending power to clean-up our individual supply chains. But what about business supply chains? It doesn’t matter whether you sell products or services, every organisation has a supply chain it depends on.
There are loads of ethical suppliers of fantastic products at the moment (check out our Xmas Gift Guide if you don’t believe us) but what about ethical services? Turns out there are tonnes of amazing service providers for all aspects of office life. To help you on your way, we’ve listed some of our favourites to make your business better, and prove to your customers just how much you care.
Finance
We bank with Triodos, whose mission is to create a society that protects and promotes quality of life for all. For over 30 years, they’ve been financing individuals and organisations who use their money in ways that benefit people and the environment. So far their impact includes: 300m meals created each year using the produce from the organic farms they finance, 1.4m households with access to green energy due to the projects they finance and 53,000 elderly people across Europe use services in the care homes they finance.
There are also some really exciting ethical finance organisations out there at the moment, where your money can fund valuable projects and make sizable returns. We love Shared Interest, who aim to alleviate poverty by helping people in remote and disadvantaged communities to trade and earn a living. As well as a portfolio of investment opportunities, they offer business loans that help you and other traders all over the world.
Film Production
Film has fast become an invaluable marketing tool for businesses big and small and is something our clients very often ask us to deliver for them. We love working with Mediorite, a social enterprise that trains young people and creates paid work for them. Catch Creative is another social enterprise production agency that gives its profits to Catch21, a charity that enables young people to be a bigger part of their communities.
Business Energy
Whether you are on a ‘Green’ tariff or not, if you’re plugged into the mains it’s all the same mix of energy. Ecotricity Business tariffs use their profits to build windmills and sun parks that work to actively increase the renewable electricity fed to our homes.
Office space
If you’re a social enterprise or start up, the chances of being able to afford your own office are pretty slim. Co-working is a great option, particularly for making contacts in your field, however it doesn’t come cheap. Theatre Deli competes with the best of them by offering fixed desks for £200 a month to artists, creative charities and social enterprises AND a 10% discount at their cafe / bar downstairs (we highly recommend their honey & chorizo cheese toasty ?).
Looking for cool office space as well as expert business support? Bootstrap is a charity based in Dalston providing workspace to a diverse mix of tenants, supporting them to grow into sustainable businesses and to be socially enterprising.
Legal
Capital Law has provided legal services to social enterprises for over 10 years. Responsible business is at the heart of what they do and one of their Senior Partner is the Prince of Wales’s Responsible Ambassador for Wales. They are also an active member of Business in the Community, hosts of “Heads Up” meetings for charity heads in Wales and have experience, knowledge and understanding of the aims and values of social businesses.
Refreshments
There’s always an excuse to eat during the average working day 🙂 For breakfast meetings, try Day Old. They are a surplus food box scheme that delivers yesterday’s uneaten bread and pastries to offices the next morning.
Lunch time already? London is home to many social enterprise cafes but we hold Unity Kitchen close to our hearts as it’s where we’ve spent many a meeting with our client the Bromley by Bow Centre.
How about an afternoon pick-me-up? Rise Bakery work with homeless people to produce and deliver handmade brownies.
Working late? Too Good To Go is a brilliant app that helps you find surplus food that’s being thrown away at the end of the day, so you can help reduce food waste and get a great meal at the same time.
Phone and broadband
The Phone Coop offer competitive business broadband, cloud communications and mobile. We love them because they work to a stringent ethical policy, offset their carbon emissions and invest their profits into community organisations.
Fairphone are the world’s first ethical, modular smartphone. They are made using conflict free minerals, invest their profits back into the community and charitable causes, AND their modular design makes it easy to repair, making your phone last longer.
Printers
Hato Press is a London-based, environmentally-friendly risograph printer and publishing house. They also have a shop and a beautiful range of stationery.
Away days
Don’t take the team paintballing AGAIN. Why not contact some local charities or community groups and offer the services of your team for the day? It’s a great way to bring your team together around a common goal and meet some people in your community. Finish the day off with a meal at Amrutha, London’s top restaurant on Trip Advisor, that lets you pay what you feel.
Workplace wellbeing
You spend one third of your life at work, so it goes without saying how important it is to our lives and happiness. A good job is not just about how big the salary is, it’s about the commute, your colleagues, working hours, proximity to Pret…
In the UK, work related stress, anxiety and depression affects over half a million people each year and is the cause of 12 million working days lost. Mindfulness gurus Headspace offer business packages proven to reduce stress while increasing focus.
Events
The Skip Garden is one of our favourite places in London. Hidden away in the Kings Cross development, they run an urban garden and cafe while supporting young people from disadvantaged backgrounds. They have a great space that you can hire for inspiring events and can even sort out food. And if you want to offer booze at your do, check out Pretty Decent Beer Co.
Start up support
We’re incredibly proud to be supported this year by Allia on their Serious Impact Incubator. They help startups who care about their impact to get ahead via workshops, mentoring and one to one support.
Marketing
Last but not least, if you’ve got a business, you’re going to need to shout about it! We call ourselves an “ethical marketing agency” because we offer affordable communications to organisations that are working to improve society in one way or another. We often employ social enterprises for client work, and are planning to become a Community Interest Company ourselves. To find out how we can help you, get in touch.
Good Beans is an ethical marketing and communications agency working with social enterprises, charities and organisations that want to be better. Want to reach more people? Contact us.